CANDIDATES' ANTI-WAR STANCE MAY SPELL DOOM FOR DEMS
Thu Feb 20, 2:36 AM ET
By DEBORAH ORIN
DEMOCRATS might as well be Frenchmen when it comes to using military force against
Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
The problem facing the Dems is that their anti-war party is
way, way out of whack with the rest of America, and that's
especially true of the liberal activists who pick presidential
nominees in key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
No wonder Iraq was the very first question popped to Rep.
Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) yesterday on his opening swing as a
2004 wannabe - and not from some pesky reporter but from a
rank-and-file union member in Iowa.
Most likely it was the last thing Gephardt wanted to talk
about, since he backs the use of force against Saddam and
so do most Iowans - but not most Democrats in Iowa.
Overall, 59 percent of Iowans favor an Iraq attack - but only
38 percent of Democrats compared to 84 percent of
Republicans and 54 percent of independents, according to a
poll this month by the Des Moines Register.
It's true nationwide, too - 63 percent of likely voters favor
force. But it's the exact opposite among "core" Democrats
likely to vote in primaries, since 66 percent of them oppose
force, according to a poll by the respected GOP firm Public
Opinion Strategies.
That's why a growing number of anti-war Dems are jumping
into the 2004 race - Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), ex-Sen.
Carol Moseley-Braun (Ill.), ex-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean
and Rev. Al Sharpton - with Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) and
ex-Sen. Gary Hart (Colo.) likely as well.
One theory, favored by Clintonista Paul Begala, is that having more and more wannabes on
the left just splits the super-liberal vote and makes it more likely that Dems nominate a (more
electable) centrist. Clinton redux, as it were.
The alternate argument is that having so many anti-war voices at presidential debates will
drag the Democratic Party all the way to the left and possibly over the political cliff. In other
words, McGovern redux.
Of course, no one can gauge fallout from a war that hasn't happened yet. GOP pollster Ed
Goeas says Dems are "trying to say just enough about the war so if it goes bad, which I don't
expect, they can say, 'I told you so.'"
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